Re: TARGET: R. L. Stine & Accelerated Reader

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@TENET.EDU>]

On Sat, 30 Mar 1996, JOYCE H NELSON wrote:

> Hello, LM_NETTERS.  I'm the lms for a K-5 school and am seeking your opinion
> regarding R.L. Stine's "Goosebumps" series.  Although I've never

Hello, Joyce and Group,

I, too, have been reluctant to purchase the "upper levels" of Goosebumps
types of books for the high school library because I thought the money
could be better spent elsewhere.  However, I finally broke down and
purchased a set of "Mystery" from Varsity Reading (or something like
that).  Students had not been using the library very much for voluntary
reading, but suddenly we were checking out books right and left for
pleasure reading.  One student went back to his reading teacher and said,
"Well, FINALLLY, they got some GOOD books in the library!"

I noticed the difference in how the books were read in comparison to the
"good" books that I had selected (with input from teachers).  We have a
new book cart that stands permanently in the middle of the library in
front of the circulation desk.  Students would come in and look at the
new books (my/teacher selections), pick them up, turn them over, read the
back, put them back -- and walk out without a book.  When the
"mystery/scary" ones went on the cart, each student would take as many as
I would allow and argue over who got what!  O.K. -- now *you* decide what
we need to do!

My principal, a *very* conservative person (and I think he would readily
admit to that, so I don't mind saying it on a public forum) objected to
the gory covers on the scary books.  He just didn't think that school was
the place for such. I bargained that we three + some teachers would read
all of those books that have those awful/violent covers. If we didn't see
anything wrong with them, we would *write* our names or initials on the
date slip and put them out.  Well, we have read and read and read and
have yet to find one that we didn't find acceptable.  BTW, as we read, we
make our own AR tests.

I looked up some reviews and articles about such books.  One youngster
was quoted as saying that reading Goosebumps was kind of like riding a
roller coaster; it was scary but it was safe.  I sort of like that -- a
*safe* scare -- and students know that when they are reading a book.

Our big problem now is keeping the scary ones from being stolen!

Betty
                                .----.
Betty Hamilton, LRS             |    |                701 Cub Drive
bhamilt@tenet.edu           ____|*    ~~~~~~.         Brownfield TX 79316
Brownfield High School      \               |         (806) 637-4523
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